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Will Gov. Scott Walker Stand Up For Vulnerable Wisconsinites At Risk Of Losing Health Care Insurance?

Posted June 13, 2017

There are good reasons Trumpcare is widely unpopular among Americans. Trumpcare stands to kick millions off their health care insurance while forking over billions in tax giveaways for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations. So while he's rubbing elbows with the President today, will Gov. Scott Walker stand up for vulnerable Wisconsinites and urge President Trump to protect coverage? And will the potential Republican U.S. Senate candidates stand up to Trump and Walker or choose politics over what is right for Wisconsin?

It's been widely reported that Senate Republicans are drafting their version of Trumpcare behind closed doors and have no plans to release it to the public before a vote.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the process has been so secretive that even Senator Ron Johnson, who serves on the Senate committee writing the bill, hasn't yet seen what is in it.

Despite the cloak and dagger routine from Senate Republicans, health care industry experts are already anticipating Wisconsin getting the short-end of the stick if Trumpcare becomes law. A new report by the Missouri Hospital Association shows states like Wisconsin that didn't fully expand their healthcare programs under Obamacare stand to still lose billions under Trumpcare. Gov. Walker has already cost taxpayers $679 million by refusing to accept the federal Medicaid expansion. According to the report, "by 2025 states that didn't expand Medicaid would lose out on $684 billion in additional federal money - an amount that would translate into $37 billion for Wisconsin alone."

Meanwhile, the ever-growing field of potential Republican U.S. Senate candidates like Leah Vukmir, Dale Kooyenga, Scott Fitzgerald, Nicole Schneider, Eric Hovde, and Kevin Nicholson have yet to embrace the bill that has the leaders of their party so excited and have remained uncomfortably silent.

"By not accepting the federal Medicaid expansion, Gov. Scott Walker already priced Wisconsinites out of health care while costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Now, years later, Trumpcare stands to cost our state even more while putting the most vulnerable people at risk," said Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman Brandon Weathersby. "Today, Gov. Walker has a chance to prove he isn't guided by political convenience and protect vulnerable Wisconsinites by urging the President to not repeal, but build upon, the Affordable Care Act."